posted at 10:40 pm on May 8, 2007 by Bryan

When disaster strikes, Democrats increasingly turn to blaming Bush rather than leading their voters through the proverbial–or literal–storm. Blame Bush first and ask questions later. That’s what looks like Kansas Gov Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, tried in the wake of last Friday’s deadly tornado in Greensburg.

With President Bush set to travel to now-razed Greensburg, Kan., on Wednesday to view the destruction wrought by Friday’s 205 mph twister, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she planned to talk with him about her contention that National Guard deployments to Iraq hampered the disaster response.

“I don’t think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower,” she said Monday. “The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace.”

Sebelius said that with other states facing similar limitations, “stuff that we would have borrowed is gone.”

Sebelius said Monday that Kansas is missing about half its National Guard trucks and many well-trained personnel that could have helped respond to last weekend’s tornado in Greensburg, Kan. The twister killed at least 10 people and razed the farming town…

Brownback said Tuesday that local officials and the Kansas National Guard commander all told him they have the resources needed to respond.

“That’s what really got me, is her saying that,” Brownback said in an interview.

“So I asked, privately and publicly, the adjutant general, do you have the equipment you need?” he said. “Because if you don’t, we’re going to hit Fort Riley and McConnell (Air Force Base) and other places to make sure we have all the equipment we need to respond to disasters. Everybody there said no, we have the equipment we needed.”

He added: “I think what we need to do is to focus on what we need here now, and not draw a broader political question in. We’ve got a disaster, and we need to all pull together to get everything we need from the state and the federal for the local need.”

After visiting the town Monday, the Kansas senator said he asked about resources because, “I think FEMA has a lot of proving to do after Katrina.”

Sibelius seems to have wanted to have her own Katrina, but it didn’t quite work out. First, she’s wrong and Brownback and WH Press Secretary Tony Snow rebutted her with the facts. Kansas got what it needed and FEMA even moved supplies in before requests came in. The Iraq war had no impact on equipment or the relief effort. Second, while Katrina worked out great for the DNC it didn’t work out so well for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. So Sibelius backtracked.

Her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran, said the governor didn’t mean to imply that the state was ill-equipped to deal with this storm. Sebelius’ comments about National Guard equipment were, instead, meant as a warning about the state’s inability to handle additional disasters, such as another tornado or severe flooding, she said.

“We are doing absolutely fine right now,” Corcoran said. “What the governor is talking about is down the road.”

Down the road, Sibelius will try again if nature gives her a chance. She has been banging the “Iraq war is making it impossible for the National Guard to respond to natural disasters” line for a while now, and tried trotting it out after this tornado even though it had no bearing. If she doesn’t try it again, another Democrat will. Katrina is one more bloody shirt they’ll wave as long as Bush is in office and as long as we’re still fighting in Iraq. We’ll hear about Bush and the levees–but not the buses–for the rest of our lives.

Was the response to the Greensburg tornado at the federal or state level perfect? No. It never is. One hand usually doesn’t know quite what the other is doing, and you see evidence of that in this case. But while people are suffering the political response was terrible and it will get worse until January 2009. What should we expect from a party of ambulance chasers, but political disaster chasers?

As if on cue: Here comes the NYT to provide an imbalanced account. Guess which side got the NYT’s fat thumb on the scale?

For balance and numbers, as opposed to touch-feely emotional reporting, read Confederate Yankee instead of the NYT. And marvel what a blogger can do that the Old Grey Liar can’t: Namely, get a story right.

Update: Disreputable Harry Reid piled on. Problem: His claims had already been debunked earlier in the day. There is no line Democrats won’t cross anymore if they think they can score a political point.

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Comments

The problem is, there is a question about all that “missing” stuff. It’s not missing. And Kansas doesn’t need it.

And many of the town’s residents don’t want the government involved. This story from National Review provides an interesting perspective – it doesn’t mention Katrina from what I could see, but the comparison is there.

The NC governor is doing the same thing…whining about the war and there’s not even a disaster here (except maybe not enough rain). Apparently, the democrat party teaches classes on whining about nothing. He keeps saying the National Guard isn’t prepared if a natural disaster strikes NC, because 5,000 of our brave men and women are in Iraq/Afghanistan, but the NC National Guard says they are well-prepared.

Contrast this reaction to that of Virginia’s Governor Tim Kaine in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. I might not agree with the man’s politics, but he was extremely gracious to President Bush and has shown great class. Unfortunately, that trait seems to be in short supply in his Party.

Doesn’t matter a lick if they have the equipment or not….the story and quote have already been reported by all the networks and papers and that will be the final word on the story. Only here in the new media will this story be told and heard. We will hear it all again, over and over and over, during the campaign.

I’ve always loved the concept that in an argument of ideas the loser gains the most.These people are so resistant to that concept that it is disgusting on every level.It seems that the 25% of Americans are ‘tards need to be amended with the notion that another 33% are willfully ignorant and adamant about maintaining their ignorance. Bad Mojo Batman.

Obama’s gaffe is mind-boggling. Doesn’t he know the “normal” death toll in modern disasters is in the single- and double-digits? Don’t know the last time there was a single event on U.S. soil, natural or otherwise, with 10,000+ recorded deaths… the height of the Civil War might have produced a few but I’m not sure if that’s known for sure -

Was the response to the Greensburg tornado at the federal or state level perfect?

I would disagree. The response was immediate and appropriate. We are talking about a town that is very small. Other than coordinate some finanicial help coming in, I see no role for the federal government. I have driven through this town many times and live close to it. Governor Sebelius has been a real embarassment! I hope this ruins her chances in a future senate race. This is not the first time she has taken a swipe at Bush, and in Kansas, it is not well received. I voted for her! Never again! I have blood shooting out of my eyes over this invented controversy!
In my home she is now know as Governor Blanco-Sebelius.

It is obvious that Democrats and the MSM have gotten the same talking points: Blame Iraq for the tornadoes. If you do it enough, dumb Americans (the 10% or so who are influenced by the MSM propaganda in elections) will actually think President Bush caused the tornadoes. They will associate Republicans with the damage.

CNN led a couple of days ago on Paula Zahn not with Queen Elizabeth but with a story about Iraq causing the damage in Kansas, and they had a caption to that effect.

I bet Democrats are praying right now for a huge terrorist attack or natural disaster that kills thousands of people, so they can blame it on Bush and Iraq. That is sick behavior.

Remember Kansas, elections have consequences.

Kini on May 9, 2007 at 1:56 AM

It is a lesson for conservative states, like Kansas, not to fall for the “Democrat running as a conservative” trick because her loyalty is to her party and her ambitions.

Not to be outdone, the Maryland gov, Martin O’Malley (D) said exactly the same thing on Monday. If we have a disaster here, our National Guard would not have the equipment to respond because some of it is in Iraq and won’t come back. Seems he got the same memo from Headquaters. Bash Bush for the state’s problems.

They’re all forgetting something…the National Guard’s primary duty is not disaster relief. They do that as a sideline when their primary duty of fighting for this country doesn’t occupy their time. This is why they aren’t called the National Disaster Relief Force. And the Governor is only their commander while they aren’t activated for Federal service.

Any state (and by extension, any Governor) that doesn’t have an alternate plan that relies primarily on their civil organizations such as police, fire departments, and EMTs as first responders is setting itself up for failure. It’s not as if they didn’t know far in advance of this tornado that their stuff was deployed…there’s no excuse for her to be caught flat-footed.

(Besides, since she was proven wrong about not having enough ‘stuff’ she can stuff it.)

It was a terrrible disaster, but how much assistance do you need in a town of 1,500 people and (tragically) 12 deaths. She has 83,000 men to call up to help. That is over 50 men per resident to help.
Maybe she needs the national guard to help her govern.

I am wondering what exactly would have happened sooner with the Nation Guard being in Kansas? What actions would benefit the residents? I don’t want to hear there would be more trucks and humvees. What would those trucks and humvees accomplished that could not be accomplished without them and how would that benefit the residents?

I didn’t even imagine that Kansas would be dumb enough to elect a Dem for Governor

That’s what I was thinking. I mean, even we here in California managed to elect a Repub (ostensibly) for gube for cryin’ out loud.

The problem is, of course, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It doesn’t matter if it is easily refuted with hard facts. If a dem says it, with a complicit press? It’s Gospel. The next generation of kids will be seeing Sebelius’ view in their history textbooks.

BTW, when Bush talks about the bicentennial of 1776 (which would actually be correct with that preposition) he’s stupid because he’s off by 200 but Obamessiah can be off by 9,988 and he’s still the Savior.

Obama has a math problem. 10,000=12 and “half a trillion”= half of a thousand billions or half of a million billions? But I guess he can spell potatoe , I mean potato. And Bryan what is all of this invoking of ST lately? Who ya trying to kid kid?

Recall
Recall
Recall
If the governor is incompetently or maliciously unable to deliver first line emergency assistance which deployment is 100% based on the executive order of the governor, then he or she has failed, in this case, HER sworn duties and responsibilities to the people of the state AND has mismanaged the very expensive and tax-payer paid resources that were purchased for just such occasions.
The Dems are wasting a lot of tax-payer money, and emboldening our enemies with their nationally irresponsible attempts to force a coup by threatening impeachment against President Bush.
Let the voters start the termite action against the governors and mayors who truly fill the criteria for abuse of office.

thisis what really pisses me off about the dems (besides all the partisan lying, and laying down for the muslims to walk all over them) . They expect the feds to be there for them when it’s something like disaster recovery, or welfare for everyone or all kinds of help for illegal aliens…. but God forbid if the federal government wants to do something outrageous like wiretapping phone calls coming and going to terrorist countries or employ the Patriot Act to make us all safer. And I’m not saying that the feds shouldn’t be there for natural disasters, they should, but perhaps if the state governors cannot make timely decisions, then the feds ought to be able to act.

“The next day, the state’s Republican U.S. Senator, Pat Roberts, along with two local congressmen, were on the scene, surveying the destruction and reporting back on what they were seeing. On Sunday evening, two full days after the disaster, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius made her appearance.”
–http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjM3Yzk1OGEwZTA1MWQ1OTE5YTE4MzQyNTlkYmVlZmY=

I agree with tickleddragon in wondering why it’s now the gov’t’s job to handle disasters.

I agree with James that the State Militia’s job is not to deal with disasters, but to defend the State.

I do object to the State Militias being sent in to Iraq, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, etc… always have.

Our State Militia was sent to S. America a few years ago for a training exercise… I tried looking around the State to see where we have jungles rainforests…

While the State Militia’s job isn’t disaster relief, disaster relief in their home State is more appropriate than giving democracy to desert trash Iraq. I have a severe problem with the State Militias becoming simply another branch of the federal military.

To be totally honest, Hiraghm, it’s not the state militia…it’s the National Guard. When they have a federal mission it trumps the state mission. The Guard is part of the Total Force concept…thanks to the Defense Reorganization Act, there are Guard units which perform wartime duties that are not found anywhere in the Active Duty or Reserve forces. Therefore it is totally impossible to go to war without them.

George Bush who willed Katrina to NOLA, also willed this tornado to KS (isn’t KS, NE, OK, MO tornado alley?) and now he’s down there soaking up the sorrow. Where was he on Monday, why wasn’t he there, partying with the Queen. He sure took his darn long time getting down there, guess he don’t like white people either. Darn that Evil Bush. Sarc off.
This woman is a complete blundering idiot. Also, this reporter on Fox just called it “The Katrina of the Prarie”. Okay, what is going on here in this country? Since when is it the federal governments job to be on the scene first? The idiot Gov. got the ball rolling with her inaccurate National Guard story and now wants to bring it back to milk it for more dim garbage.

While the State Militia’s job isn’t disaster relief, disaster relief in their home State is more appropriate than giving democracy to desert trash Iraq. I have a severe problem with the State Militias becoming simply another branch of the federal military.

Take a minute to check it out before you comment again. As far as democracy to desert trash, one must wonder if back during the American Revolutionary war how many French were opposed to their government sending money and munitions to a bunch of trashy colonists?

one must wonder if back during the American Revolutionary war how many French were opposed to their government sending money and munitions to a bunch of trashy colonists?

That was a way to fight the British far more cheaply than in any other venue. Don’t kid yourself, they didn’t help us for any reason other than trying to counter the superpower of the day. Sound familiar?

That was a way to fight the British far more cheaply than in any other venue. Don’t kid yourself, they didn’t help us for any reason other than trying to counter the superpower of the day. Sound familiar?